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The first college reviews on Jahlil Okafor were so overwhelmingly positive, eventually there had to be some blowback.

That came during the NCAA Tournament — and particularly Duke’s championship win over Wisconsin — when Okafor’s defense and stamina were called into question. And that has led to most experts bumping him from the top spot he occupied in NBA mock drafts most of the season in favor of Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns.

“I know I’m going to get better,” Okafor told Basketball Insiders. “I can get better at everything I do, and I always improve. I don’t think my defense was as bad as people made it out to be. We did win a national championship, and all of my coaches were extremely happy with the way that I played on both ends of the floor. Also, I couldn’t get into foul trouble and with the way our defense was set up, I wasn’t really in rim-protecting situations.

“Honestly, that is one of my flaws that I can improve on, but I can also improve on the offense end. Luckily, I’m 19 years old and I think I have a lot of time to improve my game. … I think a lot of people forget that a lot of us are still 18 or 19 years old. We’re put under the microscope and expected to be perfect, on the floor and sometimes even off the floor. Oftentimes, I do think people forget how young we actually are.”

Okafor, who averaged 17 points and 8.5 rebounds a game for Duke, told Basketball Insiders he’s working out three times a day with other potential draft picks at Peak Performance Project in California. Most experts have him projected as the No. 2 pick to the Lakers behind Towns, giving him a chance to play alongside Kobe Bryant and Julius Randle, Los Angeles’ top pick from last season who broke his leg on opening night and missed the entire season.

“I can’t say why I should be the number one overall pick,” Okafor told the website. “They try to have me and Karl debate with one another about why we should be number one, but we both thought the other should be number one. We have a lot of respect for each other.

“But if I’m talking to a team, any team, about why I should be picked, I’d say that I just want to win. That’s all I’m looking to do. That’s what I’ve done at every level and that’s all I want to do at the next level as well. That’s what I want to do. I want to be known as a winner, and I always have been. At the next level, I want that to continue.”